Radio station kicked off air after council backhoe cut cable

BUSINESSES, homes and a major local radio station have been lurched into the dark ages after a Southern Downs Regional Council backhoe slashed through a Telstra main cable in Allora on Tuesday morning.

4WK radio station lost three hours of air time and is now having to broadcast across the 4G network while Telstra staff try to fix the damage caused when Southern Downs Regional Council staff conducted drainage work on Allora Dr.

General manager of 4WK, Paul Batchelor said the workers cut through the main internet and telephone line that ran up to the transmitter which sent broadcast coverage from Goodna all the way to Goondiwindi.

"It is having a financial burden," Mr Batchelor said.

"I have an extra system running now that I don't normally pay for.

The Telstra main line that was cut yesterday.Contributed

"We are having to redistribute commercials when the connection is playing up and that is air time we don't have."

Mr Batchelor said the 4G connection was reliable but the data load from other Allora resident who are now relying on mobile phones could impact the coverage.

Willett Electrical manager Colin Willett said he was also losing business with each hour the internet and phone service remained disconnected.

The flow-on affect has left one of his customers without power for a number of days.

"The internet is a major part of the business," he said. "We do all our accounts and ordering and pick up jobs online so it has been very hard on us."

Repair work on the main line has commenced.Contributed

Since the connection went down, Mr Willett has had to do all his email correspondence through the Allora Post Office.

"We would be losing business for sure," he said.

Mr Willett made an official complaint to the Queensland Ombudsman yesterday morning after he was informed by a Telstra representative the connection would not be restored until the following week.

Telstra has been unable to confirm the exact number of people affected.

"Our technicians are currently on-site and hope to have services restored later today," Telstra area general manager Darren Clark said yesterday.

"The repair requires extensive groundwork."

"We assure our customers we are working as quickly as possible to restore their services and apologise for any inconvenience."

Mr Willett said residents and businesses had put pressure on Telstra staff to fix the issue sooner.

"They would not get here for another week but I think they have copped so much flak."